Marcia Chavez, M.A.
Ph. D. Candidate
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Marcia graduated with a Master’s in Experimental Psychology from CSU San Marcos in 2017. Since the start of her PhD work at UT, Marcia has made many contributions to the lab and has been awarded the prestigious Tennessee Graduate Excellence Fellowship. Currently her work examines sex differences within stress and neuroplasticity during development, and what the underlying hormonal mechanisms are produce these differences.
Arthur (AJ) Castaneda, M.A.
Ph.D. Candidate
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Arthur graduated with a Bachelor’s in Psychology, and a Master’s in Experimental Psychology from CSU San Marcos. His current projects focus on the role of reproductive brain regions and their interplay with social experience. Specifically, his aim is to explore the underlying neuroendocrine and experiential factors between the brain, development, and social-reproductive behaviors in rodents.
Jessica Tremblay
Ph.D. Candidate
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Jessica graduated with a Bachelor’s in Psychology with a Spanish minor from UNC Wilmington in 2020. Here at UTK, she is working to understand how hormones affect neuroplasticity during adolescence in the medial prefrontal cortex, and how this may contribute to the development of mental health disorders later in life.
Sierra Lawler
Masters Candidate
slawler2@vols.utk.edu
Sierra graduated with a Bachelor’s in Psychology and a minor in Animal Assisted Interventions from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania in May of 2023. Also pictured here is Harley-the official lab “good boy”!
Erin Kelley
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Erin is a senior majoring in Biochemistry and Neuroscience and will be graduating in Spring of 2024. Her current work focuses on how prenatal and adolescent stress alter neuroplasticity in the basolateral amygdala and central amygdala. After graduation she hopes to either pursue a PhD in biochemistry or go to pharmacy school.
Maddie Jones
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Maddie is a Neuroscience and Spanish double major with an anticipated graduation date of May 2025. Her current work focuses on how prenatal and adolescent stress alter neuroplasticity in the basolateral amygdala and central amygdala. After graduation, she plans on attending medical school to eventually work in a pediatric subspecialty.
Kim Zamora
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Kim is a senior majoring in Microbiology and joined the team in the Fall of 2021. As a non-traditional college student, she took a break from university life to attend trade school and began working as a nurse to gain experience in the medical field, eventually returning to complete her degree at UTK. Post-graduation plans include applying to Physician Assistant programs or medical school to eventually serve patients as a trusted clinician with interests in the fields of orthopedics and neurology. Within the lab, she has been helping with imaging and data collection for the Hormone Monster and Red Light District projects under AJ’s guidance.
Grayce Garcia
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Grayce Garcia is a Neuroscience and Psychology double major with an anticipated graduation date of May 2025. Her work focuses on how developmental stress affects neuroplasticity by analyzing PNNs in the hippocampus. Grayce hopes to pursue medical school after obtaining her bachelor’s, and is working to discover her passion in terms of specialties.
Joseph Hunter
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Joseph is an undergraduate Neuroscience major and is anticipated to graduate in the Spring of 2026. His work focuses on how stress during different stages of adolescence affects neuroplasticity within the medial prefrontal cortex. After he graduates, Joseph will aim for a PhD in Neuroscience in order to research ADHD and plans on making information regarding ADHD to be more accessible.
Olivia Lawson
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Olivia is a junior majoring in Neuroscience and pursuing a minor in English. She has assisted with immunofluorescent imaging for the Hormone Monster project. Additionally, she has completed behavioral analysis while collaborating with the Richardson Lab at UMASS Amherst under Dr. Schulz’s supervision. Olivia is a non-traditional student and a mother of three. She plans to go to medical school after graduating and hopes to specialize in pediatric surgery while simultaneously conducting research on treatments for Glioblastoma.
Trevor Pounders
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Trevor is a senior from Memphis, Tennessee and joined the team in the Spring of 2023. He is majoring in Psychology and minoring in Business Management. Within the lab space he has assisted PhD student, Marcia Chavez, by tracing the BLA brain region and counting the neurons within that region to understand how different hormones affect neuroplasticity within an organism. After graduation, Trevor hopes to pursue higher education.
Abby Solano
Abby is a junior majoring in Neuroscience and minoring in English. Her anticipated graduation date is in 2025. In hopes of finding new information about stress-related neuroplasticity, she has assisted in imaging and data collection for the Hormone Monster project, focusing on specifically the hippocampus region. Along with fellow research assistants, she presented at both the Eureca Convention, where she won an Achievement Award within the College of Arts and Sciences Division, and the Psychology Department’s Spring Celebration. She is currently on the pre-med track in hopes of becoming a psychiatrist.
Meg Maynor
Undergraduate Research Assistant
mmaynor2@vols.utk.edu
Meg is a neuroscience major from Kingsport, Tennessee, and she intends to graduate a semester early in December of 2024. Currently, her work, alongside Jess, focuses on how the addition of hormones during adolescence affects the neuroplasticity of the medial prefrontal cortex. After undergrad, she intends to pursue her MD!